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Mr Muntari Mahama (right) presents the items to Mr Ambrose Tengang
Mr Muntari Mahama (right) presents the items to Mr Ambrose Tengang

Chartered accountants support poor school

The Accra West District Society of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana (ICAG) has handed over 45 chairs, nine pupils’ tables, and two teachers’ desks to the Naa Polkuu D/A Kindergarten at Nandom in Upper West region.

The items, worth GH¢5,700, comes as relief to school authorities, parents and children who have put up with undignified conditions over the years.

The kindergarten – housed in a half-century old structure torn apart by age, weather, and non-maintenance – currently has a population of 110 for two streams.

Half of that population lie on their bellies to write on the floor or on their shins while sitting on the floor of the 20-foot by 25-foot classroom, where only a pint-size table – aside the windows and doors – is the only furniture of note.

The roof barely provides shade or protection from rain, while adjoining rooms converted into stores are hardly a pleasant sight.

It made sense that school uniforms on the little ones seemed battered by dirt and the hard concrete.

As the rainy season ushered in the farming season, some parents appeared to have found a tangible reason to excuse their children from the sorry conditions, and the 39 in the class looked happy to be the maiden beneficiaries of the new chairs and writing desks.

Joy beyond bounds
Madam Abena Jacob, headmistress of the kindergarten, said she was short of words to express her excitement when she saw the tables and chairs in their physicals forms.

“How can we describe this? It hasn’t happened in the lives of many children who have passed through the kindergarten of this school over many years,” she said.

It appeared that the kindergarten part of the school – which has up to junior high school – thrives on just its name, and any survivor of the system who makes it to a higher level could well be a miracle child.

It was those conditions around the school which caught the attention of a native, Raphael Derbie, a student teacher at the University College of Education Winneba, who took pictures of them and circulated to fellow natives to court their collective support for the school.

At the presentation of the items on the school’s premises on behalf of the benefactors, Mr Muntari Mahama, chairman of the Tamale District Society of the ICAG, paid tribute to Mr Abdallah Ali-Nakyeah, a native of the area who posted the pictures of the pupils and the school on a common social media platform.

He said members empathised with the situation and contributed voluntarily to bring them the tables and chairs.

Mr Ambrose Tengang, an administrator with Ghana Education Service, expressed gratitude to the Accra West District Society of the ICAG, and appealed to other benevolent individuals and organisations to help complete a classroom structure that only shows its pillars.

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